Steinitz, Wilhelm General characteristics and ratings

Steynits rassmatrivayetsya kak pervyy ofitsial'nyy chempion mira i kak novator, okazavshiy kolossal'noye vliyaniye na posleduyushcheye razvitiye shakhmat. Royben Fayn pishet, chto Steynits byl unikal'noy figuroy srazu po neskol'kim prichinam: «On byl pervym, kto ofitsial'no zavoyeval titul chempiona mira; on byl pervym, kto sozdal kakoye-to osmyslennoye teoreticheskoye ucheniye. On razrabotal printsipy pozitsionnoy igry, kotoryye s tekh por stali azbuchnymi istinami dlya shakhmat.

Steinitz is regarded as the first official world champion and as an innovator who had a tremendous influence on the subsequent development of chess. Reuben Fine writes that Steinitz was a unique figure for several reasons: “He was the first to officially win the world title; he was the first to create any meaningful theoretical doctrine. He developed the principles of positional play, which have since become truisms for chess.
He was the first fully professional chess master to devote his entire life to the game. And he was the first to show that chess journalism can be good literature.”[13] Garry Kasparov begins the era of modern chess with Steinitz and compares his contribution with the role of the discoveries of the 19th century for modern science[91].
Steinitz's reputation as the strongest player of his time developed primarily due to his match victories. This is explained both by the fact that in Steinitz's time major tournaments were held every few years[81], and by the fact that Steinitz was much more convincing in match competitions. If in the most representative tournaments Steinitz, at best, shared first place (in Vienna in 1873 - with Blackburn, whom he defeated in an additional mini-match, and in Vienna in 1882 - with Winawer)
then in the matches before meeting Lasker he remained practically invincible: the only two defeats came in a handicap match against de Vere (1865) and a two-game telegraph match against Chigorin (1891)[92][80]. In total, Steinitz played 33 matches during his career and won 29 of them[92]. Znosko-Borovsky also explains this phenomenon by the fact that the matches suited Steinitz’s temperament much better: at the start of the competition he often lost points, playing not at full strength or allowing himself to experiment, but then he “accelerated” and won games in series. This did not always make it possible to catch up on lost time in the tournament,
but it worked in matches where you need to fight with the same opponent for a long time[80]. Steinitz was jealous of his reputation as the strongest and sought to constantly confirm it. He accepted challenges to matches without hesitation and especially sought meetings with those who had previously managed to surpass him in some way, which made him sharply different from subsequent world champions, who often did not disdain various tricks to avoid a dangerous fight with a strong opponent. Thus, Zukertort beat Steinitz in London in 1883, and Chigorin repeatedly defeated Steinitz in personal meetings